Re: Fallout 3
So I'm closing in on the 20 hour mark, so I figured I'd give my review of it, since I've had plenty of time with it now.
So, the first thing to start with is the combat. And yes, it is awesome, so long as you stay in first person. The shooting mechanics work very well, even if they're not as tight as your typical FPS. It's also very intense, especially when you get more than a couple on you at once. Unless you have some good weapons or are very skilled with a particular weapon set, that could spell doom for you. Melee also works well, for the most part. The melee is very similar to the melee combat in Oblivion, which, for the most part, is a good thing.
Then we have VATS, and wow, does it rock. VATS basically allows you to stop time and target a specific body part on the opponent you're facing. While in VATS, it gives you a percentage of how likely it is to hit each body part, which helps out with the strategy of the game. After you choose which body part you want to attack, you get a slow-mo cutscene of the attack, and if you manage to kill them, you could get quite the entertaining gore fest. VATS isn't just held to guns though, you can use it for melee, as well as explosives, and it works well with both of those. With VATS though, you do have to keep in mind that it is still possible to be attacked, so you're not invincible while using it.
While VATS sounds like it might make the game pretty cheap, think otherwise. VATS could have easily been overpowered by allowing you to use it all the time, but you can't. VATS is governed by Action Points, so when you run out, you can't use VATS for the time being. However, they do regenerate at a decent clip, so if you so choose to, you can run around for about 30 seconds or so while they regenerate, allowing you to go back in to VATS.
Keep in mind that VATS also misses. Even if you have a 95% chance to hit someone, it's still not a guarantee. I missed at point blank range with a baseball bat because my enemy baked away, so yea, definitely not a guarantee.
The story, from what I've played also seems to be good. I haven't delved too far in to it at this point, but I do like what I've encountered from it. So, I won't ruin any of it for you, but it definitely is pretty damn good.
The RPG elements also work very well. There's actually two sets of RPG elements in here. The first one is S.P.E.C.I.A.L, and these are your core attributes that affect all the other attributes in the game. S.P.E.C.I.A.L stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. All seven of them are tied to your actual skills. At the beginning of the game, you get to balance out your S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes how you want to, and those go largely unchanged for most of the game unless you choose perks that allow you to do otherwise (more on perks in a moment). So, for example, if you have a high agility, you're going to be more skilled in Small Guns and Sneak, and also have more Action Points. So keep in mind what type of character you want when you're choosing your S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes, because unless you use a perk on them, they don't change at all as you level up.
As for Skills, there's a plethora of the. They range from Big Guns and Small Guns to things like Speech and Bartering. In total, there's 13, and depending on the direction you're taking your character, a lot of them could be useless. At the beginning of the game, you get to "tag" three skills, and these should be the skills you focus on most of the game. Skills are also what you get to tweak after every level up. When you level up, you get a certain amount of skill points to utilize between your 13 skills, so it gives you a lot of flexibility to build the character how you want it.
And unlike Oblivion, you can't make a character that excels at everything. This is a game where you're almost forced to specialize. One reason is the level cut-off - you only level up to 20 (though I foresee a patch to allow a higher level). The other reason is because when the game gets tough, you want to be really good at something, instead of mediocre at everything. Otherwise, when you encounter Super Mutants, you could be in for a long day and a lot of reloads, because they can be brutally tough. So, specializing will be your friend, to say the least.
The next thing to touch on is Perks. Perks are a fun touch to this game. After every level, you get to choose a perk that affects your character in some way, with new perks becoming available every two levels (though you can still choose the perks from previous levels too). Some examples of Perks are something like Gun Nut, which gives you a permanent 5% increase to Small Guns and Repair, and it's a perk that you can actually use three times. There's also one called Intense Training, which allows you to add one point to your S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes. There's 58 perks available to you from level ups (a lot of which can be used multiple times), and then there's another 11 available to you from quests. If I'm correct though, you can't get all 11 of the quest perks, but I could be wrong.
Aside from all the gameplay and RPG elements, the game is gorgeous. I play on a 360 and on an SDTV, and it's still a very pretty game. I've had the opportunity to play it in HD, and wow is it gorgeous. The team at Bethesda did a fantastic job creating a post-apocalyptic wasteland version of DC, even including things like the Lincoln Monument in there
With all the positives, there are some negatives. I have had the game freeze on me twice (my friend Brian has had it freeze a few times too), and there is also some graphical glitches, like pop-in. The graphic glitches are to be expected though, especially with a game of this size, it's impossible to catch everything. As mentioned earlier too, the FPS controls, while good, could have been a little bit tighter, though they're nothing I'm going to raise a fuss about. The only other issue to point out is the 3rd person perspective. Just like Oblivion, the game is completely unplayable in it. It's horribly broken and combat is bad in it. Stay away.
So, at the end of the day, is the game worth the hype? Absolutely. The game does basically everything right. The graphics are great, the sound is fantastic, all of the gameplay elements are fantastic....it's just awesome. The countless positives of this game easily outweigh the minute negatives of the game. Do yourself a favor and buy this game immediately. In my book, this is definitely THE game of the year and a must-buy for the holiday season.
